Big Trouble in Little China (/More Chinese New Year Snaps)

Sufficently entranced by – Oo, the sparkles! – of glitzy Motomachi, we decided it was probably a good idea to head off too Chinatown (Chukagai, 中華街). At the time all I knew was the “events” would be carrying on till midnight, and with that in mind, we were still in good time…

The Gilded Entrance:

Note: a Starbucks in the bottom-left corner – is there no escape?!

Can you guess what Year Of it is?

The front of a gigantic game centre to which we returned, a little on the merry side, to purikura and arcade-it-up.

The “dragons” skipped and shuffled outside of every restaurant to the sound of drums and cymbals; from what I could see there was usually some kind of offering placed on top of entrance for the dragon to snap up before going inside and filling up the place with good fortune. Firecrackers were lit shortly after, and went off with such strength it was like standing right next to an exploding firework. Which was probably the reality of it. The sound, the colours, the people all packed and waiting made everything so much more exciting, despite the rolling crowds and permanent ear damage…